“Jewish Voices For Peace” Behind Anti-Israel Efforts Across Campuses

A coalition of nearly two dozen student clubs at New York University (NYU) have boycotted a subsidized trip to the Israel for student leaders, claiming the trip is, “part of the right-wing strategy to combat the Palestinian movement for human rights and self-determination in the academy.”

The anti-Israel student coalition, ironically, is being led by liberal Jews who are part of the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). The JVP has pledged to protest the NYU trip to Israel, “out of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for human rights and self-determination and their demand for Israeli adherence to international law,” and, “refuse to go on a trip that includes a visit to illegally occupied land.”

The coalition also includes the NYU College Democrats, NYU Against Fascism, NYU Freedom for North Korea, the Arab Student Union, Democratic Socialists of America at NYU, NYU Student for Justice in Palestine, and the Queer Union. Essentially a hilariously stereotypical “who’s who” of the moronic left.

Another significant signee was the NYU Disorientation, created an alternative 2017 student handbook focused on the “most destructive things NYU either perpetuates or is complicit with.” The main focus was the university’s ties with Israel.

Students who do participate in these trip might be suspected of having a strong “conflict of interest” in the event that a boycott, divestment, and sanctions resolution is introduced for the campus vote, wrote the coalition.

The coalition also complained about the funders of the Israel trip, the Maccabee Task Force (MTF), a Sheldon Adelson-backed pro-Israel advocacy organization. “We refuse to go on a trip funded by a group as toxic and islamophobic as Sheldon Adelson’s Maccabee Task Force,” the letter stated, citing Adelson’s conservative views and the organization’s anti-boycott position.

The coalition also slammed the MTF for funding “islamophobic groups like the David Horowitz Freedom Center,” which is a well-known anti-terrorist and anti-radicalism organization.

David Brog, the executive director of MTF, caved to complaints, explaining that his group gave only one grant to the Horowitz Center in 2015, but also said they had cut all ties when the foundation made use of their money for the poster initiative.

He said that the MTF “is not a vehicle for its founder’s political views, but was created to support the vast mainstream of the pro-Israel campus community.”

“It is extremely, extremely troubling that the College Democrats have taken the side of extremists who want to prolong the conflict by insisting that one and only one side is to blame, Israel, instead of taking the side that promotes education, which will ultimately lead to peace,” Brog said. “These groups have been duped by the same sort of misinformation campaign that spreads lies about Israel.”

Adam Campbell is a former military brat, who grew up all over the world--but considers Milwaukee, WI, where he and his wife currently live, to be his home. He enjoys reporting the real news, without bias.